Dunham did not doubt them. There were many mountain people deep in the Hegel Mountains. In order to avoid war conscription, they moved their whole villages into the mountains.
In fact, Dunham once thought about attracting them to become territorial citizens, but he had no ambitions and just thought about it.
Yamazaki doubted them because the timing was too coincidental.
Driving the slaves 20 kilometers, including a night's rest, is enough for a day and a half.
It's possible that those bandit merchants were out of date, so they sent a caravan to look for them. One day was enough for a 20-kilometer journey for such a caravan without any burden.
…
"is it here?"
"Yes, I know some of those people."
"Then what are you waiting for, brothers..."
"Wait, don't act rashly. Rodrigo and the others are not weak. If you can deal with them, they will also cause casualties to you."
"Then what do you think we should do? We must get that ice magic wand."
"Don't be impatient. We can say goodbye tomorrow and then come back for a surprise attack at night."
"Nonsense, you don't understand at all. Detection magic can know a person's location. A sudden attack is useless. Otherwise, so many people wouldn't have died in the war."
"I understand. There is also shielding magic, which can isolate detection, which is enough to support small-scale operations."
"Do you know?"
"I can't, but I have this."
Harvey proudly took out a dove egg-like cyan magic stone with the power of wind on it.
"Wind barrier? With this thing, what are you waiting for? Let's take action tonight."
"Hey? Why is it foggy?"
"ah!"
Someone suddenly screamed and backed away, as if being burned.
"What's wrong?"
"ah……"
More people shouted, and everyone noticed that the areas where the fog touched seemed to melt.
"This fog is weird, run away."
"Wind Barrier!"
Harvey inspired the power of the magic stone, and a circle of cyan wind wall pushed away the fog, but the fog did not dissipate, but became thicker, dyeing the cyan wind wall black.
"This, this is the poison mist technique!"
"Oh my god, he is a great dark magician."
"Spare your life, we don't dare to do it anymore."
"Please, spare us, we are willing to be your envoys."
"Your Excellency, we are from Viscount Barrels. He has discovered a magic stone mine. We can cooperate."
…
Shandai didn't listen at all, and a wave of dark arrows rained down, piercing the wind barrier with holes.
The poisonous mist technique suddenly surged in, corroding all 15 of them in an instant.
Shandai stopped in time, and the dim wind magic stone was finally preserved.
Looking at the stagnant experience points, Shan Dai curled her lips. All in all, they were not as powerful as the Summoner Rodrigo. Fortunately, there were plenty of treasure chests.
After opening the box and holding the magic stone, Shandai withdrew without doing anything.
This is what Yamazaki means. Even if everything is erased, it will still make the other party suspicious. It is better to let the other party know that he is a dark mage.
…
In fact, the businessman Harvey was a spy for Viscount Barriers, collecting intelligence through his trade.
Their goal this time was to find Rodrigo and others, but when they failed to arrive, Viscount Barrels was worried that something would happen to them and he would be implicated.
Privately taking slaves and trading slaves was a felony, not to mention that he was seizing slaves to work as miners to mine the magic stone mines he found privately. This was a capital crime of confiscating a family and exterminating a clan.
Therefore, they are all warriors, and magicians can easily arouse people's vigilance.
It was planned that if something happened, they would use the wind barrier to carry out a surprise assassination and kill Rodrigo and others.
Viscount Barrels didn't know that Rodrigo looked down on him and didn't bother to show his strength. Anyway, he just caught slaves and sold them to him. It was just an equal trading relationship.
As a result, Viscount Barriers made a miscalculation and failed to show the best fighting power.
…
The next day, Dunham discovered the crime scene during his inspection and was dumbfounded when he saw the large-scale corrosion marks.
The dark poisonous mist technique is a frightening presence on the battlefield. The most effective one is the wind technique, so the wind mage is a must-have in every army.
The rest are difficult to resist. If you want to cure the corrosion, it will exhaust the light mage to death.
…
Dunham ignored it and prohibited the villagers from approaching it. The livestock and goods were placed there.
Half a month later, a group of knights from Viscount Barriers came, with the excuse of looking for the missing caravan.
Dunham led them to the scene. Although half a month had passed, the traces of corrosion were still clear.
They also recognized it and went back with samples to report.
Dunham opened his mouth to buy the remaining livestock and goods, but they had already driven away.
…
Barrierstown, Castle Study.
"What? A great dark magician?" The sturdy Viscount Barrels had a headache.
"Don't worry, if he is willing, he will come." Burton, the great lightning magician, said proudly, "You can let him join us."
He is a blue-haired young man, less than 30 years old. He comes here entirely because of the beautiful daughter of Viscount Barriers.
"Ah, this is a good idea, but what if he doesn't agree?"
"Then I will deal with him and let him know that thunder magic is the most powerful."
After saying that, he left. Viscount Barrels watched him leave and asked the knight about Dunham.
Now that I have a certain understanding of this rural lord, I can be sure that he is poor enough to be assigned to that place.
In other places, he could have been accused of colluding with a dark magician to destroy a business traveler, but if he was so poor, there would be no advantage in being accused.
The money spent will be more than the harvest, so forget it.
But he is always a lord, so there is no harm in trying to win over him.
…
Knights of Dunham, at the gate of the castle.
"My Lord Viscount said that these supplies will be given to you. If you find any trace of the Dark Master, please be sure to report it."
"oh."
Facing the arrogant Butler Barrels, Dunham responded casually.
As a veteran, he knew very well that the dark magician was not something they could handle. As long as that person was willing, he would be a guest of the empire and a royal guest.
…
The so-called supplies were the goods of the caravan, and Dunham distributed them to everyone.
Livestock and farm tools are just in use, and seasonings are something money can't buy.
In this way, everyone finally had real recognition of this generous lord and felt at ease.
…
The days became quiet again, but within a few days, another caravan came, several more.
It is true that the mountain road over there is ruined, so we can only go around here. Although the road is longer, there is no way.
Dunham simply organized people to clean up some empty houses and built a temporary inn.
No charge, but you have to clean it up, otherwise you won’t come back next time.
In order to prevent them from bullying the villagers, they also brought the villagers into the castle.
Although crowded, it is safe.
Shan Dai felt unhappy, but Yamazaki asked her to endure it.
Sure enough, when the castle opened its gates the next morning, the caravans were gone.
When their guards were wandering around and exploring the terrain, they discovered the scene of the poisonous mist technique. They were rich in experience and naturally deduced the poisonous mist technique.
Knowing that there was a great dark magician appearing nearby, who seemed to be robbing the caravan, they were so frightened that they didn't dare to rest all night, and ran away at dawn.
No caravans came back all summer. I heard from Dunham who came back from the mountain patrol that the merchants asked the great earth magician to repair the mountain road that was washed away by the mudslide.
And after one summer, Yamazaki Shandai had mastered the elemental summoning technique.
…
